Anchors forced to evacuate during live broadcast as tornado strikes Wichita

Watch as the television staff at NBC-affiliate KSN are forced to evacuate their set in the middle of the newscast as a tornado approaches downtown Wichita, Kansas.

By Daniel Arkin, Staff Writer, NBC News

A television station in Kansas was forced to evacuate during a live broadcast on Sunday afternoon after a massive tornado — one of three that ripped through the Plains States over the weekend — touched down in downtown Wichita.

Dramatic video footage shows J.D. Rudd, a meteorologist for NBC affiliate KSN, rushing out of the camera frame as station staffers frantically flee the set shortly after 4:15 p.m., following nearly two hours of continuous live coverage of the wrathful storm.

“It appears that it is time for all of us to get to shelter,” a man can be heard saying off-camera. “Get to shelter right now! Everybody ... let’s go!”

Station employees scattered and bolted to the basement as warning sirens blared and the cyclone whipped across downtown Wichita, according to KSN producer Kathy Ivy.

“Downtown Wichita was in the target zone,” Ivy said. “We were in the target zone.”

Fortunately, the storm lifted the second it arrived at the KSN studio’s doors, leaving the facility largely unharmed.

Thousands of homes and businesses lost power during the brunt of the tornado’s tear through town, but it missed the most populated areas of the city.

There were no reports of fatalities or injuries in Kansas on Monday morning. Tornadoes killed two people and injured 21 in Oklahoma on Sunday.